07 December 2007

Below is a rare article in the middle of winter about Burning Man written by Charles Shaw (aka "Seven" and not TwoBuckChuck!). What I mean by rare is hardly a dust mote is being written about the event at the moment and probably won't be until ticket sales start again next year.

As for being hot for Burning Man, you can be sure that I certainly am. For those of you who pinged me asking me where the lastest BURNcast episode is, all I can say is that I literally have been flat on my back sick. I'm only now starting to feel some semblance of health.

Furthermore, the Tribe.net outtages have been a serious bummer. WTF? I even became a premium member! I'm feeling so disconnected! :( How about you guys?

I have the next episode of BURNcast almost complete but then I'll be taking off for a winter hiatus break. More details when I post the next episode.

Enjoy this new article!

Hot for Burning Manby Charles Shaw

It’s Getting Haute Out There. How Free is the Burning Man?

A shot of the amazing art piece, “Crude Awakening.” This pyro-tech-laced masterpiece is a commentary on our dependence on oil. The figures below worship the 100’ high oil derrick in various positions of prostration. Photo by Catherine Bailey

It begins as a pilgrimage of light inching its way across the Nevada desert. Thousands of cars, vans, RVs, painted buses and mutant art vehicles carrying inside them the minions of “The Man.”

They are some 50,000 strong: neo-tribal fire-spinners decked in bones, feathers, and tattoos; half-nude ambassadors of the love revolution; pyrotechnicians, metal workers, survivalists, demolitionists, DJs, deconstructionalists, atheists, alchemists, and aesthetes. All of them, waiting for Sunday midnight to come so that they can pass into a renewed Black Rock City and begin building this year’s Burning Man community.

This mind-bending cultural bacchanal is held every year for one week in late August on the gypsum powder of the Black Rock Desert near Pyramid Lake in northwest Nevada. From far-flung parts of the globe, Burners come to give expression to possibilities for the human race in unregulated space.

This year’s theme, “The Green Man,” invoked the planetary environmental crises. Perhaps without intending to, this theme highlighted the prodigious waste and consumption at the core of this most unsustainable of festivals, despite its “leave no trace” maxim. Most Burners reacted to the theme with ambivalence, perhaps best exemplified when on Monday night, hidden in the darkness beneath a blood red lunar eclipse, the Green Man burned before his time, torched by a disillusioned dissident disgusted with the size and scope the festival had attained.

Truck sculpture on the playa at Burning Man.Photo by Catherine Bailey

The community pulled together to rebuild him, and the festival continued, driven by Mother Nature, whowhipped up dust storms that rocked the city, crasheddomes and towers, and uprooted whole camps.

On Friday the rains came, followed by a double rainbow that punctuated the intermission between Daniel Pinchbeck’s talk on the coming cultural shift and Starhawk’s passionate address about creating a permaculture from the ashes of our collapsing ecosystems.

Four a.m., Saturday: a meteor shower blitzed the skies as Imade my way to the Sapphire Portal, an evolutionaryinterface that provides an environment for personal and planetary transformation. Inside, we huddled together against thecold through the remaining hours of the night, andawoke to the light of the rising sun pouring through the portal gates, surrounded by people praying, dancing, and practicing yoga.

Saturday night, after the anti--climactic burn, the Black Rock faith-ful watched as “CrudeAwakening,” a massive art installation of nine 30-foot tall metal humanoid sculpturesworshiping a 100-foot tall oil derrick, was destroyed in a massive pyrotechnicexplosion. Although a powerful statement on our obscenely wasteful relationshipto fossil fuels, it was, for the green-conscious, a case of torturous hedonism.

Next year’s theme is “The American Dream.” Already we can hear the distant sirens blaring.

Charles Shaw (aka “Seven”) wrote this article as part of Liberate Your Space, the Winter 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Charles is a Chicago-based writer, executive editor of Evolver/Reality Sandwich (realitysandwich.com) and former editor of Conscious Choice.

06 December 2007

OK, I'm gonna let y'all know a secret. My 'day job' is as a student in library school. One of my classmates sent me the link to this little gem.

I acknowledge that librarians may not be considered the height of coolness (I should know!). But I find this video... baffling, frankly. At first I was excited (ooh, Burning Man and libraries?? neat-o!). I love it when my worlds collide. But what on EARTH does Burning Man have to do with a librarian's manifesto?? Wha'??

The closest link I could come up with was this statement: "I will educate myself about the information culture of my users and look for ways to incorporate what I learn into library services."

Hmm, library services for Burners-- workshops in welding and working with flammable fuels, perhaps? Books on building temporary structures? I'm really reaching here.

I think this is a great example of our 'culture' (if you can call it that) being stereotyped for its coolness factor. Maybe this isn't a new thing, but that it hit so close to home for me was rather surprising. And confusing. Maybe a little bit disconcerting too.

28 November 2007

A few weeks ago I had a meltdown on the show as I was attempting to share some scary news about Otto Schutt, a member of our beautiful community, who has recently been diagnosed with colon cancer and is also without health insurance.

Otto's chemo treatments are going to be gianormous. If you can help, please donate here.

27 November 2007

"Christopher Lawrence, the man behind the Pharmacy Music label, is back from playing the Burning Man festival in Nevada and clearly he’s had a good time.'

"I would give up ten Winter Music Conferences for one Burning Man. If you miss out on going to Burning Man, you will miss out on one of life's greatest experiences. Hopefully I'll see you there in 2008"

23 November 2007

Burning Man organizers and volunteers are setting a wonderful example with their gift of solar panels to Lovelock's Pershing General Hospital and to Gerlach schools. The group is acting on justifiable concern for the environment. They're also working smart by creating this partnership with the hospital and the general community to encourage the manufacture and use of renewable energy technology.

21 November 2007

Afrika Burns is a creative arts and freedom of expression festival that aims to build temporary community through collaborative arts projects, in a completely non-commercial environment.

This is a place to collaborate, cooperate, and add to the public environment. To build community. We want you to make a conscious decision to inject artistic sensibility into every daily activity: to invent the world anew; to generate a culture, a connective environment to be idealistic and celebratory. We want you to think of this gathering as an “invent” rather than an “event”. See this as an opportunity to reinvent the world and to foster art-making

So our objective with Afrika Burns, is simply to create a blank canvas on which participants can project any creative endeavour that they desire to create; project aspects of themselves, collectively or individually; all of this in an environment not mediated or controlled by commercial enterprise.

17 November 2007

Nitai Das, one of the lead organizers of Krisha Camp, is featured in the current episode of BURNcast when I met up with him at NYC Decom. He just pinged me to thank me for the podcast and also took a moment to share with me a video from this year's Burning Man:

D. Parvaz from the Seattle Post Intelligencer, whose previous blog pissed a few people off, asks the question: "Is it art, a prank or a hate crime?"

A snippet:

I recently riled up some people when I blogged about what Paul Addis' motives might've been when he showed up at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral on Oct. 28, strapped with fireworks. Some took what I said to be a defense of church burning (it was not). It turned into such a really big deal that I wanted to learn a little more about the guy, who also prematurely burned the effigy of The Man at the Burning Man festival in Nevada (which has a huge base of participants from here) in August as a gesture of revolt. Was burning a church Addis' idea of art, a prank or (as some charged) a hate crime? The Burning Man stunt -- or the resulting backlash -- seems to have tugged at a loose thread in Addis' psyche, because over the next two months, Addis, 37, came unraveled.

This Friday, November 16, Newmindspace will be hosting our very first lightsaber battle! This summer at Burning Man, we witnessed a 10,000-person lightsaber battle put on by a camp called Watto's Junkyard, easily the largest lightsaber battle since the Jedi Civil War. However, with our limited resources, we realized that without a large donation from a rich weirdo (which are plentiful in San Francisco), we would probably not be able to get the plastic, LED-lit, colour-changing expanding kind without some sort of fundraising "starter battle" first.

NewMindSpace is interactive public art, creative cultural interventions and urban bliss dissemination based in New York and Toronto. Read more here.

11 November 2007

Just thought that I would give you all a post-game report on "Burner: Tales from the Playa", which I performed on Thursday.

I'm very happy and grateful to all of you who came out to see "Burner" at Heist. I hope you enjoyed the show and our little get together afterward as well.

In case you are wondering, I think that the show went very well, considering that it was the first time ever presented. I wish that I had had a little less stress right before the show. As of 7:20 (the show was scheduled to start at 7:30), I had NO AUDIO coming out of the computer. Of course, Turo, Chris, Nadia and Quinn came to the rescue. What I would have done without you guys, I don't know.

Some of the people who saw the show gave me notes. If you have thoughts about how it went, let me know. I'm sure that this won't be the last time that I do "Burner", so your suggestions would be quite helpful.

Jason (owner of The Bank Heist) said, "You know, I didn't know what to expect. And I'm the kind of guy who, if I didn't like it, I would have been polite. But, I've got to tell you that I thought the the show was awesome. Really." Also, Ken Jordan and Chris Cox of The Crystal Method thought the show was great as well. Ken said that "we are going to put something together to involve you". Yeah, I don't know what that means either. It may be North Hollywood, but it's still Hollywood, and one thing I do remember about my show biz days is that you have to take stuff like that with a grain of salt until somebody signs something.

Still, chances are very good that "Burner" will return to the Heist, most likely in conjunction with "NoHo Massive". The biggest determining factor is whether we can draw an audience which is not comprised of mostly my friends. Would you like to help this happen? If you feel so inclined, you can send an email to Jason and/or Kat Johnson (managing partner, also saw and loved the show)...

jfeld@thebankheist.comkjohnson@thebankheist.com

...telling them your feelings about the evening and, more importantly, that you have people who wanted to see the show, but couldn't make it or other folks that would enjoy it as much as you did. Please copy me, so that I can use your comments in future communications promoting the show, if that's okay with you.

"Burner" is a work in progress and will only get better as we go along.

I was wonderful to see all of your shining faces out there in the audience. I had a blast. Hope you did too.

09 November 2007

Seacompression
Burning Man without the dust and heat
By Gavin Borchert
November 7, 2007

One of the big takeaways of the Burning Man experience is that life doesn’t only have to be cool and fun and creative and art-filled in one spot in the desert one week a year. Burners across the country organize other events, smaller in scope but similar in spirit, year-round. The burners of Seattle, reputed to have the largest community of regular attendees outside the Bay Area, is planning a traditional post-BM party, or “Seacompression,” in Magnuson Park's Hangar #30—a sort of ceremonial easing-back-into-the-real-world, a chance for those who went to show off their art and costumes again and for those who missed it to get a taste of what went on down there. Tonight’s bash, according to a floor plan on the Ignition Northwest Web site, will include a parking place for art cars, “catapult art,” a “mutant sofa,” a “grapestem sculpture,” and the “Temple Whores Massage Table and Chill Space.”

08 November 2007

Is Tribe down again? Need to connect with other burners? Donut freakout!

There's a burgeoning social network called Ning that's got its own little group called Tribe Refugees headed up by Ms. Dynomite. It has hope for me, whereas Tribe...well it's just on the way out IMHO and other bulletin boards dedicated to Burning Man are just, well, too cliquey.

At Ning, burners are asked to follow forum etiquette which includes mutual respect and a no tolerance for personal attacks policy. That alone makes it more appealing. It's worth giving it a try!

06 November 2007

Chai Guy is back producing and hosting his own show. In this episode we catch up with Daniel Brezenoff, a former Green Party candidate for Congress and Burner at L.A. Decom. Then we go back to the playa where we talk with a group of friends about friendship within the confines of Black Rock City.

02 November 2007

Well, whatever! I'm just a valley girl and like, I'm just posting this to say that I'm going to New York Decom and like my plane leaves today. Be back Monday. And as divaD put it: "No sleep for the weak!" Oh, and no blogging from me 'til I get back! Like totally for sure!

Oh, and this photo. It's a webcam. It updates like every few minutes. It's totally, totally cool.

01 November 2007

Guessing from her blog post, Drunken Housewife will not be voting for John "Chicken John" Rinaldi in the SF mayoral race. She's disappointed in Chicken John's bid and asks: "Where is the art?....So far, I don't see the art in any of this, and I don't see any interesting political commentary, either."

31 October 2007

OK, like you know how rumours abound on the playa with the lack of real news outlets and information resources? Right?

So, last year on the playa I got word from a burner that claims to be "in the know" (like aren't we all, right?) that the French have their sites on Burning Man in '08. When pressed, this source refused to elaborate further, which leaves me to wonder WTF?

And I go back to thinking it's just a rumour.

But ah! Que je suis bête!

Then I see something like this on Google Video by French-American.tv and I'm all like: Ah HA!!! This is what they meant!

Then again...meh...who knows? It could be true. Maybe. When I look at this video I'm thinking well, it's rather long. But it does have this certain savoir fair...this...ah, hmm... shall we say je ne sais quoi!

So, whatever. If the French are truly planning on invading Black Rock City, blame Canada. Seriously. From my experiences on the playa last year, I'm convinced that it's a tie breaker between Canadians or possibly Jedi knights with light sabers that will overtake the event. Larry help us, and may the farce be with you. Zout alors!

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial writer D. Parvaz can understand why somebody might commit arson. In a recent article entitled "Arsonist or performance artist?" about Paul Addis and his latest failed "prank" attempt, she writes: "On the one hand, I can understand the power of the image to someone who sees the church as an oppressive institution."

UPDATE #1 (10/31/07): Cinnamon Stillwell who is a contributing columnist at SFGate.com and a member of Pajamas Media posts in her blog "Anti-Christian Sentiment in San Francisco Leads to Violence, Liberals Shrug". Here she asks "Imagine for a moment if the situation were altered and Addis had attempted to burn down or blow up a mosque. (I won't say a synagogue or other Jewish structures because that doesn't seem to engender much outrage these days either). Were Islam to be the targeted religion, does anyone think for a moment that the "hate crime" label would not be affixed?" Good question, Stillwell!

UPDATE #2 (10/31/07): From Ripclawe, who blogged this: "Seriously, I know the Seattle papers are leftist havens, but this is irresponsible journalism at its worst. If this was a conservative talking about mosques, everyone would go nuts. D. Parvaz should get a talking too, but given this is Seattle, probably get a promotion."

UPDATE #3 (11/01/07): Is this a cat fight? You be the judge. Sadly, No! posted "The Flying CinnaNun" in response to Cinnamon Stillwell's blog post saying: "Burning down a giant stone cathedral is, of course, easier to accomplish in an overheated wingnut’s imagination than in actual practice, particularly where Mr. Addis had not an explosives belt, but an ammunition belt with small explosives which, according to the police, would not have caused substantial damage, much less burned down the whole gigantic stone edifice. But let’s not rain on Cinnamon’s parade, because she’s just getting worked up about how no one is paying attention to this because it was a hateful Christian church and not a beloved mosque." Meow! Fft! Fft!

UPDATE #4 (11/01/07): From the Recliner Commentaries blog: "...So far the only one who appears to have covered it is Bill O'Reilly (It's even hard to find much about it on the internet!). If Paul Addis had been a Christian attempting to set fire to an abortion clinic you can bet that it would be the leading story on every news outlet in the country. If Paul Addis had been a Muslim, his attempt would have been called terrorism."

UPDATE #5 (11/01/07): 1RedThread also blogged on this. The blogger's bio states: "I am a Christian infidel, a card carrying member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, conservative American, living in Canada, and I support Israel." OK!

UPDATE #6 (11/01/07): Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés of the Moderate Voice weighs in with more questions than answers: "How does he fit in with the recent spate of people acting publicly when they a) know cameras are present (don’t tase me bro,) or when a show is being taped live (Bill Maher ran off the stage to help eject a screamer from his audience)? Performance art and threatening to do actual harm in real time context, are two different ideas, yes or no? How can street theater be used in time-honored ways, and where /when? Surely there are many analytic questions that could reveal context, teaching, learning, facts perhaps?"

So BURNcast readers, what do you think? Take the poll! Post a comment!

From the "Third Pipe - The Future of Broadband" comes this blog post in which writer predominantly discusses Google's plans for growth and domination in the VOIP market with brief mention of the Burner boys who run the enterprise. Altogether, an interesting read and the reader comments are noteworthy.

About Third Pipe: "Third pipe is alternative information resource about the state broadband communications and a strong advocate of establishing a “third broadband pipe” to increase competition and improve service. We are also your “third pipe” to this information - being beholden to neither the mainstream or “new media” - each having their own interests to spin on the issue."

30 October 2007

"Burner: Tales from the Playa" is my true story as a six-time "Burner" and chronicles the joy, heartbreak, amazement and life lessons learned at Burning Man, the annual festival which takes place on a Black Rock Lake, a remote, dry lake bed in Northern Nevada, known to Burners as "the playa".

"Burner" interweaves my own, deeply personal accounts of survival, lust and enlightenment with insights into the beautiful insanity that is Burning Man. I take a wickedly funny aim at the citizens and the culture of Black Rock City, but I save the sharpest barbs for myself. More than anything, "Burner: Tales from the Playa" is a loving tribute to Burning Man and the citizens of Black Rock City.

People who have never been to Burning Man will be introduced to not just the sights and sounds, but also the spirit of Burning Man. And for the experienced, "Burner" is just like going home.

"Burner" is a multi-media production, featuring images, video and sound I have collected during my trips to BRC. It is directed by Jerry Diner.

After the show, you are invited to stay for The Bank Heist's weekly electronic music event, "NoHo Massive". "NoHo Massive" is presented by Chris Cox and Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method, pioneers of the "big beat" electronic dance genre. Every Thursday, Chris and Ken bring superstar DJs such as Rabbit in the Moon, Freddy Be, Sandra Collins, as well as themselves to The Bank Heist for an evening of the best electronic dance music in Los Angeles.

The Bank Heist is North Hollywood's newest nightspot. Housed in an old bank building built in 1926, the club features a restaurant (Bank), and a two-story nightclub (Heist). The upstairs lounge provides the plush and intimate setting which will host both "Burner" and "Noho Massive".

Show-time for "Burner: Tales from the Playa" is 7:30 p.m. and runs for approximately 80 minutes. "NoHo Massive" kicks off at about 9:30.

So, you get to see "Burner: Tales from the Playa" and dance to superstar DJs at "NoHo Massive". What's it going to cost you?

$10. Can you dig it?

The upstairs lounge at The Bank Heist is very comfortable, but intimate. There is seating for about 80 and there is standing room as well. This show will sell out. So, to insure that you are able to get in, you can reserve a space by using PayPal to pay for your cover charge in advance.

This is a lounge and seating is not reserved, so get there early for a good spot. You can even get something to eat at Bank before or after the show.

The Bank Heist is located at 5303 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA. The club is across the street from the the Metro Red Line subway station. If you are interested in taking the Metro Rail, the last train from North Hollywood to Downtown L.A. leaves at 12:45a. Valet parking is available at the club and there is also parking on the street.

For information and reservations, go to www.ohtony.com, and click on the "Burner: Tales from the Playa" link.

Adam Fish shot this video with Paul Addis back in September, about a week before Addis' arraignment for attempted arson hearing in Nevada. Along with Adam and Paul, I also recognize in this video Amacker Bullwinkle and Dee Dee Russell. There is another man featured whom I believe is named Jeff.

Early in the video, Paul references a laminate and says it's the true badge of Black Rock Intelligence. He goes on to say anybody seen carrying one of these is dead.

Shite!

I have one of those laminates. I ain't dead yet. Does that mean there's a contract out for my life?

This is of a conversation of Ms. Amacker Bullwinkle, a friend of Paul Addis. Here she shares information of what she believed occurred regarding Addis' alleged involvement in the Early Burn. She also shares a story of their devoted friendship to one another. Recorded at Burning Man on Wednesday 29 August 2007.

In this week's episode, we speak with the folks from Bentley Biofuels, Burning Man's #1 supplier of biodiesel fuel. Dragon and Pixie Little tell us their thoughts about mixing work with play, and ObiWan tells us about the higher calling of biodiesel and his thoughts on the Greening of the Burn. Katherine the Great also makes her debut as a BURNcast producer-- yay!

29 October 2007

Alleged Burning Man arsonist accused of trying to burn Grace CathedralAs reported in the SFGate, Paul Addis was arrested yesterday in connection with an arson attempt on the Grace Cathedral. Read more here.

27 October 2007

I've been doing BURNcast for three seasons now. As some of you may know, it all started when Chai Guy and I took the advice of some friends who said "Be the change you want to see" with regards to how the media covers Burning Man.

Speaking for myself (and not for Chai), I find it utterly fascinating as to how the event is portrayed in both mainstream media and social media. I've seen examples that IMHO are really terrible. I've seen others that have been absolutely sublime. But I have to say that the following videos below are my absolute favorites thus far. There's no gratuitous T and A (OK...some nudity, but done with taste), no hedonism, no fire, no blowing shit up, no nothing that would capture an audience attention and generate ratings or click-throughs. Yet, to me, it's deep, powerful and meaningful. It's an aspect of Burning Man culture I really enjoy and that is reflecting on the mystery of life and having a few good answers and some absolutely ridiculous ones as well. It reminds me of the saying I was told when I was a teenager: "Life is mysterious. Don't take it so serious!"

I hope you enjoy the following videos as much as I did. Thanks, Shananda, for this work.

26 October 2007

Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin is one of the coolest people I know. She's super hip, über intelligent, and she's a burner, too. Here, she talks with Simpson's director David Silverman about his flaming tuba. Incidentally, David is just as hip, just as intelligent and just as burn-y too. He's also a member of the Phoenix Projekt, LA's premiere fire troupe.

25 October 2007

24 October 2007

Mim Chapman, a burner from New Mexico, is performing her original work "The Vagina Penis Monologues" this weekend in Santa Fe. Santa Fe, incidentally, is the city with "Zozobra" the original Burning Man of which I've had the opportunity to see burn several times when I've visited that enchanted state.

Chapman says in a recent article: "I started out at Burning Man because I wanted to go to a really liberal enlightened group of people. I went in the 6-foot vulva costume and gave away invitations to our camp, where we were giving away free oral sex—as in talking about it. Every afternoon people gathered and filled out my survey, ‘What did you ever want to ask a vagina or a penis?’ basic demographic info and where people learned most of what they knew."

14 October 2007

I was able to visit Otto for a few minutes today. Wow, he has a lot going on; tubes, wires, and needles everywhere. Mark (former roommate), Dex (travel brother) and I snuck in before visiting hours because Dex was on a lay-over on his way to NYC. Otto is still very groggy and heavily sedated. In the moments Otto was able to focus he conveyed the gratitude he has for all of you. The Diorama Stacy and Amy made filled with Budhas and bacon were his favorite point of the hospital room tour.

Mark, who was with Otto before surgery a few years ago thinks he looks much better this time. You can tell Otto wants to be up and running ASAP but the body isn’t cooperating. Otto has already done a few laps around the ward and hopes to be home by Monday. God speed!

With his sisters here, Otto is getting good treatment and has his own room now with a view. They send their thanks.

Food: For those asking to cook food for Indra, Ari and Otto’s family, healthy especially veggie is best. Casseroles or anything that can be frozen is sooooo very helpful. Recovery is going to take a while so we are putting together a calendar for baby-sitting, errands, and cooking. Please contact our favorite wedding planner, Jennifer Steinle to volunteer.

Weddings: Aaron and Gayle are getting married today and were to have Otto officiate their SF wedding next week. Send them some love if you can, they are as worried as you. Also, if you were married by Otto please contact Chip Vitarelli (Married to Amy by Otto).

Auction: I have been offered cars, art and vacations to auction off for Otto. If you have something you’d like to donate please let me know. Expect a silent auction link from this site soon.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, let it out slow as you think of your favorite Otto moment. Now smile and know that your message has been received.

Teh Fine Print

This is an unofficial website. BURNcast is independently produced by burners for burners. It is offered as a gift to the Community (drink!!!). Our podcasts, vidcasts and blog are not intended to represent Burning Man in virtual reality or actual reality. The views expressed on BURNcast may or may not reflect that of the BMorg or the Black Rock City LLC and we're not affiliated with the Cult of Larry.

All rights reserved for all BURNcast audio podcasts and BURNcast vidcasts including any and all blog and calendar posts except where explicitly communicated on this blog. Permission required to use any BURNcast recordings for remix and reuse.